They're the most talked-about feature in beauty circles, and this season brows can be bold, slender, windswept and soaped up, says editor Trudi Brewer. It's time to enter an age of consistently inconsistent eyebrows, a style everyone will be wearing in 2020 - and with the right tools, anyone can create these looks at home.
Editor Trudi Brewer shares tips on TV3’s The Cafe. Read below for more tips and all the tools you need for DIY brow grooming.
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The most natural-looking full brow - is the shadow shape
A welcome change from the dark, overgroomed, bold brows of recent years, today a toned-down eyebrow, one that enhances your face shape is the ‘it’ brow look for 2020. Achieving this effect requires some restraint when it comes to plucking. Only remove those hairs that are outside the full shape of your brow, and avoid touching the ones close to your eyebrow arch. Never pluck from the top of the brow; if you follow that rule, when it comes to maintaining a natural-looking shape, you can't go wrong.
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To groom
Use a brow powder and apply short powdery strokes to give fullness, and then use an eyeshadow brush to blend away any hard lines and give that smudged shadow effect. For those with over-plucked brows, you can try a more permanent brow option such as microblading, where colour pigment to match the brow hair is used by etch fine, detailed natural hair-like-looking strokes that blend seamlessly with your existing brow to create volume and fullness. Read how-to here
Powders
Benefit Brow Building Powder, $48 there are three shades. Estée Lauder The Brow Multi-Tasker, $68, a pencil & powder in-one, there are four shades. Revlon Colorstay Brow Kit, $28, there are three shades. Clarins Eyebrow Kit, $69, with powders, brow wax and tools all-in-one kit.
Arm yourself with a pencil - for precision grooming
A brow pencil is an essential brow tool for outlining your brow shape before plucking, extending the brow tail and creating fine, hair-like strokes. Right now it feels like brows could not any bigger or more extreme, which is why brow artists are predicting a 360, with the comeback of the skinny brow? Not quite the look of the ’80s, but a slightly slimmer brow than we have seen in some time is emerging.
How to define your perfect shape
Start by placing a pencil at the edge of your nostril, and pointing it straight up to be in line with the start of the eyebrow. Where the pencil hits, is where your eyebrow hairs should start. Then, swivel it from your nose to your iris (middle of the eye in line with the brow arch), this is where the arch should be at it's peak, and then swivel the pencil across to be in line with the end of the brow, and this is where your brow tail should taper away, and end.
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Pencils
Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil, $48, there are 12 shades. Eye of Horus Dual Brow is a 2-in1 Brow Pencil and Tinted Gel, there are three shades. Clinique Superfine Liner for Brows, $40, there are two shades. Shiseido Brow Link Trio, $45, there are four shades.
Choose the right shade
When it comes to choosing a colour, go one shade darker than your natural eyebrow hair colour, don't try and match your coloured hair, you need to consider the hair colour of your brows.
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The windswept brow
After years of the brushed up brow being the most popular look, a windswept look is emerging. Brushed up at the front, and then the rest of the brow is brushed across toward the temples, adds texture, but less structure. Brow wax and gels are great grooming options for this windswept look.
Gels and waxes
Benefit 3D BROWtones, $48, there are two shades. Estée Lauder Brow Now Volumizing Brow Tint, $56. Lancôme Eyebrows Styler Châtain Make Up, $43. Clinique Just Browsing Brush-On Styling Mousse, $40, there are four shades.
Soap brows
If your brow grooming beauty stash is running low in ISO, you can always use a gentle baby or organic soap. Celebrity makeup artists and hairstylists have been using soap to add definition to hair for years, I guess like all good beauty tricks they hang around.
How to soap your brows
Use a little warm water and make a fluffy, lather on top of the soap bar. Next use a spoolie brush to comb the soapy mix through your brows, and allow it to dry. It adds a fabulous messy look to your brows that stays put for hours.
Top brow tips
Over plucking your brows will lead to a lengthy grow-back process, eyebrows take four to six months to spring back to their natural, flattering shape, and that wait time can be painful. You also need to take care of brows in the same way you do your skin. Cleanse and nourish them daily, which encourages growth and keeps that flakey skin underneath the brow hairs at bay. Finally, everyone should own a spoolie brush, and sharp nail or hair scissors. These tools are ideal for trimming any brow hairs that are poking out awkwardly, instead of removing brow hairs from the root.
Top tools
Benefit Brow Zings, (brow wax & powder in one palette $55, there are six shades. QVS Tempo Curved Nail Scissors Soft Touch, $16. Estée Lauder Double Brow Brush, $56. BrushBenefit Tweezing & Taming Tool, $38.